Order of consonant letters in dictionary

• Basic Consonant letters (bold-faced) define each section, and each section begins with its representative consonant letter.


• The five double consonants (underlined) follow their respective basic consonant; that is:
  ㄲ after ㄱ, ㄸ after ㄷ, ㅃ after ㅂ, ㅆ after ㅅ, and ㅉ after ㅈ.


• The aspirated (heavy air coming out) consonant letters (orange-colored) come last.


• Among the aspirated (heavy air coming out) consonant letters (orange-colored), the order of ㅋ, ㅌ, and ㅍ follows the order of their base consonant letters (ㄱ, ㄷ, and ㅂ).

Order of vowel letters in dictionary

• Group order: '아'-Group, '어'-Group, '오'-Group, '우'- Group, and '으', '의', and '이'.


• Within each group, y-diphthong comes last, and the complex vowels are ordered in the order of the vowel letter that is added to the base vowel.

Dictionary entries: The first section begins with 가, and the last section begins with 히.
가 .... 각.... 간 ........갛 ... 개...객 ..... 거 ... 걱 ...................................................깊 ...
나 ... 낙 ... 난 .....낳................................................노......누.........,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,........닢 ...
다 ... 닥 ... 단 ......닿...................................................................드.......디.... 딪 ...
:
:
하 ...학 ... 한 ...............................................................................................힝 ....

• No word begins with 기+ㅎ
• No word begins with 니+ㅎ
• No setcion on 디+ㅊ through 디+ㅎ
• No section on 히+ㅈ through 히+ㅎ

Exercises: Circle the word that occurs first in the dictionary (Click here for answers).

Instruction:

• When the initinal consonants are different, follow the order of the consonant letters. (1), (4)
• When the initial consonants are the same, follow the order of the vowel letters. (3)
• When there's no initinal consonant, follow the order of the vowel letters. (2)
• When the intial syllable is the same, follow the order of the initial consonant of the following syllable. (5)
  The syllable without a final consonant (받침) must come before any syllable with a final consonant added to it.

(1) 의자, 보리, 수박, 학교, 나비, 주전자

(2) 이발소, 어머니, , 우유, 애기, 오이

(3) 구두, 가위, 기차, 공, 거울, 거실

(4) 카메라, 호박, 피자, 타자기

(5) 가위, 가족, 가로수, 강, 가방, 간장

(6) 웨이터, 외투, 의자, 왜, 유리, 위

(7) 보리, 병원, 별, 바늘, 바다, 비행기